To retire or expand?

[Rhyl Lightworks]

I feel I am at a crossroads in my life. A business doing appliance repairs and spare parts, which I sold over 6 years ago, has just stopped trading, and we are asked repeatedly for appliance spares, which I don't have room to stock, having agreed with them not to enter into competition. People aren't willing to wait even one day for these.
However I am also fed up with the hassle from running a business, which I won't go into here.

I could afford to retire with a comfortable income, but I am the type of person who may vegetate when there is no pressure to get things done. Or I could expand into bigger premises, and do what I am doing now (lighting and general electric goods) and add domestic appliance parts to it.

Any advice would be welcome.

Barrie

 

[ReformedSinner]

Have you considered starting a new type of business? Something with less hassle to deal with.

 

How about semi-retirement by closing your bricks and motar and concentrate on online sales.?

Earl

 

[luvbusiness]

How about expand slightly by maybe taking on that new/old business..adding it to yours as a bolt on then selling up sometime when you have it all up and running.

So what happened to the company that ceased trading then werent they able to make a profit out of it?

 

[movietub]

Have you considered starting a new type of business? Something with less hassle to deal with.

Not just less hassle, more interesting! You clearly arn't that fired up about what you're doing at the moment. Given that new premesis/expansion etc requires similar determination as starting up a new business you may as well just sell up and start up a new more interesting venture.

If its something you're passionate about then you really have very little to risk and a great deal to gain. Greater passion tends to breed greater success, especially if you already have experience in business on your side.

Definately don't retire though! What will you tell people when they ask you what you do??? Instead of 'I run my own business' which always starts a decent conversation, it will be 'I'm retired', which will make people think you are either lazy, or simply older than you look

 

[estwig]

Full on retirement sounds like a nightmare to me, nothing to do and no purpose to do it.

You could see the idea of getting new premises and adding to your business, as not just an opportunity to expand, but also as an opportunity to change the things in your current business you don't enjoy doing. Maybe you don't like doing the books, having a bigger business would justify the cost of a bookkeeper. Maybe you don't like doing long hours in the shop, again a bigger business would justify the cost of full time staff.

It's not just an opportunity to expand, it's also an opportunity to make changes.

 

[MASSEY]

Why not expand into a full electrical wholesaler for electricians stocking every type of product for house rewires etc,

The place we get our stuff make a fortune, it was hard for them at the start and they had to plough wages back into the business but you appear to have a comfortable sum to get through that,

Get a shop in a busy area get your suppliers sorted, you could cater for both the public and trades.

 

[cjd]

Hire a manager and just do the interesting stuff yourself?

 

[Rhyl Lightworks]

Some great food for thought here. I hadn't considered starting a new type of business, as I've always preached the first rule of starting a business is to go into something you're knowedgeable about, and I haven't thought of anything I'm happy with, but I will give it some thought.

I have thought about selling the bricks and mortar place and just doing on-line sales, but I can see difficulties - the main one being I would be working from home, with an obviously residential address. This could lessen credibility of the website and could cause a problem with deliveries.

I have thought about expanding into electrical wholesaling in the past - we sell mainly to the public at present - but have I got the motivation and impetus to take on the opposition and sell to the trade? I'm sure this kind of business would be successful, but it would require a lot of hard work.

I have been told by several people that I am a hard act to follow, and this is probably one reason that the business I sold ceased trading. Apparently, if rumours are to be believed, they were deep in debt.

I have thought about hiring a manager, and taking more of a back seat, but one of my problems is I do find it difficult to delegate. Have other people found this and how have they overcome it?

I don't like the idea of full-time retirement it is true.

Barrie

 

[Big Pete]

I feel I am at a crossroads in my life. A business doing appliance repairs and spare parts, which I sold over 6 years ago, has just stopped trading, and we are asked repeatedly for appliance spares, which I don't have room to stock, having agreed with them not to enter into competition. People aren't willing to wait even one day for these.
However I am also fed up with the hassle from running a business, which I won't go into here.

I could afford to retire with a comfortable income, but I am the type of person who may vegetate when there is no pressure to get things done. Or I could expand into bigger premises, and do what I am doing now (lighting and general electric goods) and add domestic appliance parts to it.

Any advice would be welcome.

Barrie

Sell up buy a place abroad in the sunshine and enjoy your wealth before the kids or the Government get it..

You never know when your going to snuff it , and believe me its a lot more fun playing with businesses than Having to run them
Not sure what age you are or how much you could end up with , but as long as you have loads of spending money believe me you never get bored indeed you will wonder how you managed to fit work in before

Just my two penneth...

 

[Matt1959]

I think I would be concentrating on why you think you wouldnt like to retire. I sure would and I'm only 50. What sort of age are you - ok, I know, a cheeky question

 

[Bri]

I agree with the earlier comment, get someone into manage the domestic appliance business and probably co manage the lighting side too. As everyone knows keeping stock on shelves costs you money, I suspect like most of us as you get more disposable income youre looking for more disposable time too.That will get you more focused on where you want to be and want to do next.This is the 21st century and I'm finding we need many more strings to our bow now than we ever did before. I always wondered about people who had different businesses, now I know.I have two now and have another two pie in the sky ones on the back burner pending further research.

 

[adventurelife]

Being in business is hard , fun and interesting. It can also be a nightmare if your heart is not in it.

You have sold a business previously so I am sure you know to get maximum value for your business on the market you should start preparing for a sale about 3 years in advance.

Cannot comment on retirement as never have experienced it and have no intention of doing so.

One point you mentioned is that you do not delegate well. I suggest you put some effort into this and learn how to. Business is about getting people to work as a team and getting competent managers into your business to run it for you, not easy and a constant headache as people are people but it does offer you the opportunity to explore and try different avenues and businesses while still enjoying the benefits of the other businesses.

Overall you need to think long and hard about the next move, good luck